NOT Fearing Paris (or for that matter any 'can't be done's)

My French friends and fellow CIYO women's leadership program faculty guides (Laure Le Douarec, Isabelle Pujol, Virginie Allard, Veronique Esvan) decided last year to explore a 'what if?'. What if we decided to host one of our programs deep in the Moroccan Desert - could we do it? why would we do it? would anyone come? what would it take? will it be too cold/too hot? what will it ask of me/us? etc. etc. etc.

This past October they did it. And it was an amazing thing and I count myself lucky to have friends such as these who inspire me with their sense of adventure and self development.

This picture they sent from their entry into the desert inspired me to rediscover a favorite poem: Fearing Paris by Marsha Truman Cooper.

Suppose that what you fear
could be trapped
and held in Paris.
Then you would have
the courage to go
everywhere in the world.
All the directions of the compass
open to you,
except the degrees east or west
of true north
that lead to Paris.
Still, you wouldn’t dare
put your toes
smack dab on the city limit line.
You’re not really willing
to stand on a mountainside,
miles away,
and watch the Paris lights
come up at night.
Just to be on the safe side,
you decide to stay completely
out of France.
But then the danger
seems too close
even to those boundaries,
and you feel
the timid part of you
covering the whole globe again.
You need the kind of friend
who learns your secret and says,
“See Paris first.”